INVESTIGATORS ON Long Island have discovered the remains of three more people – bringing to eight the number of bodies discovered in a small coastal area forty miles east of New York city since last December.

The latest grim discoveries have raised fears that there may be a serial killer on the loose in the area.

The New York Times reports that bodies of four female prostitutes were found off the highway on Gilgo Beach last December, as police speculated that they may have been dumped there by whoever had killed them.

Last week, a fifth set of remains were found a mile east of where the first four bodies were found – and then yesterday, three more sets of remains were discovered in the brush off the north side of Ocean Parkway, near the secluded Gilgo Beach.

No connection has yet been established between the most recent discoveries and the first four, who were all working as prostitutes and had advertised on Craiglist.

The police began combing the beach last year after a 24-year-old prostitute from Jersey City, Shannan Gilbert, was reported missing in May. Her body has not been found.

Gilbert was last seen at a client’s place in Oak Beach on 1 May. She fled after arguing with the client, and she sought help from a nearby neighbour. The neighbour called 911 – but by the time police responded Gilbert had vanished, and the neighbour reportedly said she was followed into the dark by a car.

Sarra Gilbert, Shannan’s sister, criticised the search effort in the aftermath of yesterday’s discoveries. “They’ve been out there for less than 12 hours and they already found three bodies,” she said.